Supernova in M82, Ursa Major

A supernova has been discovered in M82, ( aka NGC 3034, aka Arp 337, sometimes called the cigar galaxy,) by Steve Fossey and his team of students (Ben Cooke, Tom Wright, Mathew Wilde, and Guy Pollock ). They were using a 350 mm SCT at the University of London, Mill Hill on 21.01.2014.

Deep Sky Section members Dale Holt and Alan Clitherow have sent in their observations of this event.

Dale’s drawing, was made on 23.01.14, using a 505mm Newtonian telescope and A Watec 120n vieo camera.

Alan’s image, was taken on 22.01.14, with a MN 190 P and a cooled Canon EOS 1100D DSLR camera

This is the section director’s image taken on 26.01.14, using a 305mm SCT and Meade DSI II Pro camera, (LRGB filtered image.) The position of the Supernova is indicated by v < arrow heads.

M82 can be found at R.A. 9h 55m 52.2 s DEC +69o 40′ 47” It is about 12 x 106 light years away, and is a “starburst” galaxy, thought to be activated by interaction with nearby galaxy M81.